Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell effectively endorsed the House’s bill that could ban TikTok in his first public comments on the matter Monday.
The bill, which overwhelmingly passed the House last month, would require Chinese-based parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok or else the popular video-sharing platform would be banned in the U.S.
McConnell had been coy for weeks about where he stood on the legislation, but came out in support on Monday.
The outgoing GOP leader called TikTok ‘a platform that is beholden to our foremost strategic competitor’ and a ‘tool of surveillance and propaganda’ for the Chinese government.
‘Requiring the divestment of Beijing-influenced entitlement from TikTok would land squarely within established constitutional precedent, and it would begin to turn back the tide of an enormous threat to America’s children and to our nation’s prospects in defining the competition of the 21st century,’ the minority leader said in remarks on the Senate floor.
Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell effectively endorsed the House’s bill that could ban TikTok in his first comments on the matter Monday
The Kentucky Republican added ‘PRC influence and control has been baked in from the very beginning.’
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has not yet agreed to bring the bill to the Senate floor. The New York Democrat said last week that when his chamber returns Monday they would work ‘on a path forward on TikTok legislation.’
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 352-65 on March 13 to give ByteDance about six months to divest from TikTok.
Schumer’s statement did not outline a specific position on the House-passed bill.
Last month, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said she wanted to hold a public hearing on a TikTok crackdown bill.
TikTok sent this notification to users on Tuesday morning, prompting them to get in touch with their lawmakers to let them know whether they support the TikTok bill
TikTok’s supporters and other First Amendment advocates have expressed concerns that the bill could restrict free speech. ‘Let’s be absolutely clear, this isn’t a debate about restricting speech,’ McConnell shot back.
‘After all, the PRC does enough of that itself. Chinese citizens are banned from accessing Tik Tok at all. No matter how loudly Tik Tok’s apologists claim that reining in PRC influence violates the First Amendment. The question we’ll face is about conduct, not content.’
Last month TikTok led a bone-chilling pressure campaign that prompted users to call into their representatives and urge them not to vote for the bill, which the company claims amounts to a ban.
Congressional offices said phones were ringing off the hook with children calling in from classrooms and in some cases issuing death threats to members voting on the legislation.
TikTok used the geo-location of users to tell them which representative to call, and in some cases wouldn’t let users on the app until they placed the call.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would specifically name and designate ByteDance and TikTok as foreign adversary-controlled applications.
If passed, ByteDance would have five months after the law is signed to divest from TikTok. If it does not, app stores and web hosting platforms would not be allowed to distribute it in the U.S.
The bill also would broaden the scope of the president’s powers in general to ban foreign adversary-controlled applications, calling out those affiliated with China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
Former President Donald Trump, among others, has expressed skepticism of the bill, insisting if TikTok is banned its rival Facebook would ‘double their business.’
‘I don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better,’ Trump wrote in a social media post. ‘They are a true Enemy of the People!’
Elon Musk joined Trump in opposing the effort to reign in TikTok’s influence, calling it government ‘censorship,’ in a post on X.
‘This law is not just about TikTok, it is about censorship and government control! If it were just about TikTok, it would only cite ‘foreign control’ as the issue, but it does not,’ Musk stated.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., also voted against the bill, mentioning Musk by name, praising him for restoring her account on X after it was formerly banned and decrying the ‘Pandora’s Box’ this bill could open.
‘What’s to stop the U.S. government in the future from forcing the sale of another social media company claiming it is protecting American’s data from foreign adversaries?’
TikTok advocates gathered outside of the Capitol ahead of Wednesday’s vote to push back against the bill
‘I believe this bill can cause future problems. It’s opening Pandora’s Box and I am opposed to this bill,’ Greene said on the House floor.
Greene was among a number of significant GOP members who voted against the bill, including Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Tom McClintock, R-Calif., Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and more.
On the other side of the aisle, ‘Squad’ members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also voted against the measure.
One lawmaker, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, voted present.
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